Mumbai Court Acquits Man In 14-Year-Old Arms Case Over Lack Of Sanction, Contradictory Testimonies

The Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) of the Mumbai Esplanade court has acquitted 44 year old Kandivali based resident, Manohar Jawahar Gupta in a 14-year-old case involving the alleged illegal possession of firearms, citing contradictions in police testimonies and unreliable witness accounts. The court also said that there was no sanctions  obtained by the police to prosecute the accused. 

The judgment, delivered by Magistrate M.R.A.Shaikh have delivered judgment in a case which was registered against the accused in 2011. However the accused was acquitted after the required sanction in the case, which gained him acquittal in the case. The court in its orders maintained “In order to safeguard the interests of the people, protection has been provided under Section 39 of the Act, which mandates that prior sanction from the Sanctioning Authority is necessary before launching a prosecution. In the opinion of this Court, a valid sanction is sine qua non for prosecution. Unless the sanction granted is valid and given with due application of mind, the prosecution cannot be sustained. A sanction granted in a routine manner, without proper application of mind particularly without inspecting the recovered weapon cannot be considered a valid sanction in the eyes of the law.”

As per the prosecutions case the police had claimed that he was found in possession of 16 country-made firearms and 10 live cartridges, allegedly without a valid arms license.

According to the prosecution, Head Constable Ravindra Dinkar Bhalerao, then attached to DCB CID Unit-7, had received a tip-off about a person arriving at Bhandup station carrying firearms. A police team laid a trap at the location and arrested Gupta, who was reportedly carrying the weapons in a rexine bag. An FIR was subsequently registered under Section 25(1-B)(a) of the Arms Act and Section 135 of the Maharashtra Police Act.

During the trial, however, the defence highlighted several inconsistencies in the prosecution’s case. Key witnesses, including the informant and the panch witness, gave contradictory descriptions of the incident. The color of the bag allegedly containing the weapons was variously described as blue and black. Testimonies also conflicted over whether the seizure was conducted at the spot or back at the police station.

The panch witness, Mohammad Rehan Shaikh, admitted to having acted as a panch in multiple cases, raising questions about his impartiality. The court also noted that the prosecution failed to provide concrete evidence of the promulgation order being effectively communicated to the public, a key requirement under the Maharashtra Police Act.

“There are several contradictions and omissions in the depositions of prosecution witnesses. In such circumstances, their testimony cannot be considered trustworthy,” the court stated in its detailed judgment.

While the prosecution argued that the case had been proved beyond reasonable doubt, the court disagreed, ultimately giving Gupta the benefit of doubt and acquitting him of all charges.